You can understand Todd Gurley’s suspension sparking Georgia to an emotional win at Missouri last week. With fewer than 48 hours to process the news, the team could ride on outrage and defiance. But with a week for the news to sink in and the disappointment and frustration of no news, there were an entirely different set of emotions to deal with. Meanwhile, Arkansas was said to have been motivated by a more primal instinct: hunger. The Hogs had come so close against Texas A&M and Alabama to ending two years of SEC futility that they were this close to breaking through.

As it turns out, “being due” isn’t enough on its own to get you an SEC win. Georgia, once again leaning on a productive ground game and an opportunistic defense, erupted for 31 points in the second quarter and coasted to the 45-32 win. Nick Chubb was once again spectacular shouldering nearly all of the carries, and he popped a few for long gains this week. Chubb became only the third Georgia freshman, after Herschel and Hampton, to have a 200-yard game in his first season. His calm and consistent production is almost enough to make you forget what he’s been asked to do.

Though Chubb ran wild on the ground, Georgia’s passing game played an important role. Following Arkansas’s opening touchdown that ate up nearly half of the first quarter, Georgia flew down the field on passes to Conley and Bennett. After Chubb had scored twice, Georgia executed a flawless play-action that found Bennett open for another touchdown. With the game drawing closer, Conley again got open down the left sideline, and Mason dropped in a perfect pass for Georgia’s final score. Hutson Mason either ran or threw for three of Georgia’s five offensive touchdowns. After a couple of shaky weeks in front of the home crowd, Mason completed over 70% of his passes with three passing touchdowns, two rushing touchdowns, and no turnovers during Georgia’s two-game road trip.

The biggest difference between last week’s beatdown and the win over Arkansas? Last week Georgia converted 12 third downs that allowed them to sustain drives and keep the ball away from Missouri for all but about 7 minutes of the second half. Georgia didn’t have a single 3-and-out in last week’s second half. That wasn’t the case at Arkansas. Georgia only moved the chains once in the third quarter on Saturday, and that was on the first snap of the half. The Dawgs converted only five third downs in the Arkansas game, and two of those conversions came on the nice 5-minute drive that ended the game.

It ended up not to matter much, but that’s a big part of the difference between a 34-0 shutout and a game that had us all a little nervous early in the fourth quarter. It was such a small play at the time, but Georgia’s inches-short fourth down attempt on their opening drive of the second half turned out to be a bigger play than we expected. Georgia was looking at at least a field goal that would have pushed their score into the 40s, and Arkansas was soon on their way to the first of four second half scores. Certainly Georgia’s defense relaxed a bit and fell back into some bad habits, but none of it diminshes an outstanding effort in a game that all but the most optimistic Georgia fans expected to be much closer.

Tyler had a good point in this tweet. If you remember the 2008 Bama game as a dominant blowout win for the Tide (and you should), you might forget that Georgia scored 30 points in the second half and only lost by 11 after trailing by 31. Georgia was never going to come back to win, but the Prince Miller return that brought Georgia within two scores at the start of the fourth quarter snapped Bama out of clock-killing mode. Bama, as good teams do, responded with scores that squashed Georgia’s comeback hopes. Similarly, the textbook Chris Conley double-move and Hutson Mason pass that provided Georgia’s only score of the second half at Arkansas let everyone know that Georgia could open things back up when they wanted to.

A few more things before we move on to the Cocktail Party…

• Pruitt’s done a wonderful job with the defense of course, but his position of responsibility is the secondary. It’s been fun to watch players like Mauger and Langley improve.
• Not many have had as much of a renaissance in the new defense as Swann. Swann’s line at Arkansas: 2 forced fumbles, 11 tackles (1 for loss), 1 sack, 3 QB hits, and one tricky interception in the endzone at the end of the first half. That pick turned out to be significant. Swann’s tackling has become so much more consistent.
• I understand the timing of Georgia’s onside kick attempt. The defense had been on the field for nearly eight minutes, and it took the Bulldog offense only 90 seconds to answer. It was a strategy that had worked well in 2013 against South Carolina, and the ball would have settled into McKenzie’s hands had it bounced a little higher.
• The defense had many bright spots in the game, but their stand after the onside kick might have been the most significant. Arkansas ran the ball so well on their opening drive, but they obliged with a couple of passes after recovering the onside kick. Georgia posted sacks on first and second down, and they were out of trouble. They did such a good job that the onside kick isn’t but a footnote in the game, but it was an important moment.
• Chubb wasn’t the only example of next-man-up on display. Taylor Maxey was sidelined with an injury, and freshman walk-on Christian Payne had to play at fullback. Payne was the lead blocker on Chubb’s long touchdown run in the second quarter and had a nice block on the play.